Process of making cheese



- proposed in the particulars Patented Dec. 27, 1938 UNITEDH,STATESPATENT OFFICE No Drawing. Application March 8, 1937,

Serial No. 129,766

3 Claims.

This invention relates to the art of cheese making and has particularreference to the production of an American Cheddar cheese in a mannerdifferent from what has heretofore been pointed out in the followingspecification and the appended claims. In the production of such. cheesefrom raw milk, which is the kind of milk to which this inventionapplies, difficulty has heretofore been experienced in the use ortreatment of milk having a high acidity, and many unsuccessful efiortshave been made to produce good cheese from such milk.

It is a matter of common knowledge that attempts to make cheese frommilk having greater acidity than .22% are unsuccessful. Thus in thestandard work by Van Slyke and Publow, The Science and Practice ofCheesemaking, page 153, it is stated that: An acidity. equivalent 2 toof lactic acid in milk, when received at the factory, is regarded as thedanger line for chedder cheese making. See "The Science and Practice ofCheesemaking by Van Slyke and Publow, Orange Judd Co., September 1908,p. 21, v

p. 153; also Cheesemaking by Decker and Sammis, The Cheesemaker BookCo., Madison, Wisconsin, 1924, p. 204.

Therefore the present process has particular value in the treatment ofthose milks which from any cause have a higher acidity than 22%.

The present invention involves particularly the control of the acidcontent of the whey after coagulation as by rennet, this control beingmost efiectively exercised during what is known as the cooking period.

Initially, it may be stated that raw milk of various acid content may beused. These variations range from .16% for fresh milk to 3% and higher.

I use raw milk altogether. It must, however, not be coagulated, and freefrom objectionable It is capable of use with either pasteurized orunpasteurized milk, altho it is to be noted that its principal value iswith unpas- 45 teurized milk, because pasteurization of milk oftenresults in coagulation in case of initial high acidity.

To the milk I add 5% of starter in all cases. This is a marked additionto the amount of 50 starter usually employed.

acid development from lactic acid organisms developed in sterilizedmilk. The purpose of the starter is for bacteria control and theresulting flavor in the cheese. Ordinarily, with present as methods,from .5% to 1.5% of starter is used;

rarely as much as 2%. The use of such an increased amount of starter,.say 5%, causes a very active condition of lactic acid development orfermentation in the cheese milk which has the eifect of preventing thedevelopment of ob- 5 jectionable organisms, by what may be called aprohibition or inhibition against the development of such objectionableorganisms, resulting in a uniform product with respect to the textureand flavor. The addition of this amount of 1 starter increases theacidity of the batch to a corresponding extent and requires someprovision for the control subsequently exercised, as hereinafterdescribed.

I then heat the batch to say 85 F. and add 15 the rennet as usual, say3.5 ounces to a thousand pounds of milk (when this temperature has beenreached). The time of coagulation depends on the amount of acidity inthe milk and will run from 10 to 30 minutes, say.

After coagulation I start cutting the curd slightly on the soft side, inthe case of high acid milk, as the curd firms very rapidly, so as tofinish cutting before it is too firm. The curd is out small, say frominch to inch, so as 25 to firm more rapidly.

As soon as the curd is cut and the whey begins to separate, I test it todetermine the percent of acid in the whey. This will depend on theacidity in the milk, running anywhere from 80 .12% to about 22%, It hasbeen found by experience that the acidity of the whey during the cookingmust not exceed .17% for any length of time, if at all. If it exceedsthat during the latter part of the cooking operation or be- 35 foredrawing the whey it results in an acid condition in the cheese which isinjurious or ob-' jectionable. Therefore in the event that the acidcondition exceeds .17 in the whey, for example, 22%, water is added tothe whey or batch 40 in sufficient quantity to reduce the acidity tobelow .17%. I prefer to add the water at first until the whey shows anacid content of about 14%. I start heating the curd about five minutesafter cutting and heat it in about fifteen minutes to 100 F. Afterheating to 100 F. the whey is tested at intervals so as to be sure thatbefore the acid content reaches..l7%,. waterat 100 F. is added so thatthe acid iri the whey, at no time, rises above .17% before the whey isdrawn. Ordinarily, initially, the acid content is held to a point about.14% or .15% because, the development being very rapid, it is desirablethat it should not finally exceed .17%. The amount of water isdetermined by the amount and the action of the water is to dilute isthat in the treatment of casein in the presence of an excess acidadsorption occurs which results in the deposit of acid on the casein andthe formation of a sour curd and a sour cheese later on.

When the curd has shrunken to a point that when pressed between thehands it shows a tendency to spring back, or a rubbery feel, and thecurd falls apart readily when the pressure is released and shows aslightly wrinkled condition, I draw the whey, which, at this time has asan acid content not higher than 17%, removing the whey as rapidly aspossible.

In short, I maintain the acidity of the whey by the addition of water asmay be necessary while the batch is cooking, to keep the acidity below.l'7%, which I consider the danger point of acidity of the batch incheese making. This simply involves testing from time to time for acidcontent by the usual method, which is well known in the art. The timeofcooking is determined by the amount of acidity in the milk and thetemperature. I is less for milk of high acidity than for solution, anaction of milk of low acidity.

The process therefore involves or includes the step of adding water tothe batch to dilute the whey acidity during the period after cutting thecurd or between cutting the curd and drawing the whey, which is thecooking period, to keep the whey'acidity below .17

Thereafter, the treatment of the curd is substantially the same as inordinary processes of manufacturing American Cheddar cheese, such asCheddaring, milling, salting, pressing and ripening. I prefer to ripenthe'cheese at a temperature of about F. which is somewhat higher thanthe temperatures ordinarily employed, which gives fine results, whichfollow, in my opinion, from the use, of the relatively large percentageof starter, which controls or inhibits the development of objectionablebacteria, and the acidity control maintains conditions favorable for thedevelopment of desirable flavors and the ripening process.

As compared with present methods of making such cheese, time is saved inthe processing, seldom taking .as much as three hours from heating themilk in the beginning to getting the cheese in the press.

The cheese ripens more rapidly than cheese made by present methods; itmight be said of the time as a rule. When milk is processed by thismethod uniformity of product results at all times, as well as uniformlygood flavor and texture, since the development occurs under controlledconditions which are or can be made practically uniform, as heretoforedescribed.

I claim:

1. In the art of cheese making the steps of increasing the acidity ofraw milk to a point exceeding .22%,by the addition thereto ofsubstantially 5% of starter, and thereafter adding water to the cheesebatch during the cooking period after cutting the curd, in an amountsufficient to maintain the whey acidity below 17%.

2. In the art of cheese making, the steps of increasing the acidity ofraw milk to a point exceeding 22% by the addition thereto ofsubstantially 5% of starter, and thereafter adding water to the cheesebatch during the cooking period after cutting the curd, in an amountsuflicient to maintain the whey acidity between 14% and .l7%.

3. 1n the art of cheese making, the steps of adding about 5% of starterto the milk, to cause a condition of acidity exceeding 22%, coagulatingthe milk, testing the whey as it begins to separate to determine itsacidity, cooking the batch, and

adding suflicient water immediately after cutting and during the cookingoperation and before drawing any of the whey to maintain the acidity ofthe whey below 17%, and then finally drawing the whey.

WILLIAM D. SAUNDERS.

